Volume information analysis module and method thereof

ABSTRACT

A volume information analysis module reads a data by an interface unit. The volume information analysis module uses a compare unit to compare the data. After comparing the data, the compare unit outputs a signal, and then a count unit accumulates result of the comparing according to the signal. A control unit receives a setting signal from a micro process unit to control the interface unit, the compare unit and the count unit. Thereby using the volume information analysis module can accelerate analysis speed and reduce loading of the micro process unit.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a Continuation-in-part of application Ser. No. 11/039892, filed on 24 Jan. 2005, and entitled Storage control apparatus capable of analyzing volume information and a control method thereof.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to information analysis module and the method thereof; in particular, it relates to a volume information analysis module and the method thereof.

2. Description of Related Art

Prior art storage devices are provided with volume information analysis functions therein to facilitate users to observe storage volume, which scan and analyze usage status of the storage media, then save and record the scanning and analysis results, allowing further display for user's references. In the U.S. Patent Open Publication No. 2006/0075182, titled as “Storage control apparatus capable of analyzing volume information and a control method thereof”, there provided an analysis method for volume information. The said document illustrated a storage control system provided with a volume information analysis module and a volume information registration area, offering the storage control system with the functions of reading the storage media independently, online or offline, to further analyze storage volume related application information carried thereon. However, in terms of the volume information analysis module, the said document has merely stated the functions provided by the volume information analysis module within the entire system, but no further descriptions on its internal analysis method.

Concerning the prior art storage device volume information analysis method, please now refer to FIG. 1 in which a functional block diagram of prior art volume information analysis is shown. Initially, the storage media 10 reads data to the buffering area 12, then the microprocessor 14 reads the data bit by bit from the buffering area 12, in order to compare the contents of analysis data according to the file type of the data, checking whether it is an available volume space. For example: suppose the file type of the data is of FAT32, whose compare type is consecutive four bytes 0 (0×00000000), which indicates corresponding clusters are available, and one single sector (512 bytes) can record at maximum 128 sets of cluster statuses. If the file type of the data is of FAT16, whose compare type is consecutive two bytes 0 (0×0000), which represents corresponding clusters are available, and one single sector (512 bytes) records at maximum 256 sets of cluster statuses. In case the file type of the data belongs to HFS or HFS plus, either of which employs one bit to represent allocation statuses of allocation blocks, each bit needs to be independently determined separately based on respective bits (bit0 to bit7), and one single sector can record at maximum 4096 sets of allocation block statuses. However, since the microprocessor 14 reads data from the buffering area 12 bit by bit to perform analysis and compare operations, taking FAT32 for example, it must compare consecutive four bytes 0 to indicate the corresponding clusters are available; furthermore one sector of 512 bytes will also require much time to be compared and consume the performance of the microprocessor 14, not to mention the necessary resources of the microprocessor 14 and long process times for analyzing the storage media 10 having high-capacity nowadays.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Regarding to the above-mentioned issues, the present invention provides a volume information analysis module and the method thereof, which reduces work loadings of micro process unit, and also shortens process times required for analyzing storage media volume information.

The present invention offers a volume information analysis module, wherein comprising an interface unit, a compare unit, an accumulate unit and a control unit. In which, the interface unit is used to read data, thereby provided to compare unit for compare. Next the compare unit compares the data and outputs an acknowledge signal, then the accumulate unit, according to the said acknowledge signal, accumulates the compare result from the compare unit. The control unit thus, in accordance with the setting signal provided by the micro process unit, controls the settings of actions among each unit.

The present invention provides a volume information analysis method, which first sets control actions of the control unit with setting signal provided for the process unit. Then the control unit controls the interface unit according to the setting signal to read data. Next, the control unit controls the compare unit in accordance with the setting signal to compare data. Following which, the accumulate unit accumulates the data compare result provided by the compare unit. Finally, at the accumulate unit, the accumulated compare result will be read.

To further appreciate the features and technical contents of the present invention, please refer to the detailed descriptions and appended drawings for the present invention, wherein the appended drawings hereunder provided are merely for references and illustrations of the present invention, not in any aspects for limiting the scope of the present invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a functional block diagram of prior art volume information analysis;

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of volume information analysis module according to the present invention; and

FIG. 3 illustrates a flowchart of volume information analysis method according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now refer to the functional block diagram of volume information analysis module according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2. Wherein, the volume information analysis module 20 is used to facilitate the microprocessor 24 to analyze the volume information of a storage media, which transfers the operations of reading data in the data buffering area 22 for analyzing the volume information originally performed by the microprocessor 24, to the volume information analysis module 20. The microprocessor 24 now just outputs the setting signal to the volume information analysis module 20, and when the volume information analysis module 20 has completed the volume information analysis based on the setting signal, it is thus possible to read the analyzed volume allocation information in the volume information analysis module 20.

The volume information analysis module 20 comprises a control unit 201, an interface unit 203, a compare unit 205 and an accumulate unit 207. Wherein the control unit 201 is connected to the microprocessor 24, and receives the setting signal sent by the microprocessor 24. The control unit 201 then sets the actions of the interface unit 203, the compare unit 205 and the accumulate unit 207 according to the setting signal. The interface unit 203 is linked with the data buffering area 22 or a storage media interface (not shown in the drawing), controlled by the settings of the control unit 201, and reading data from the data buffering area 22 or the storage media according to the set addresses or interfaces, thereby providing the compare unit 205 to compare. The compare unit 205 is connected to the interface unit 203, controlled by the settings of the control unit 201, wherein the control unit 201 controls the compare unit 205 in accordance with the file type of data intended to be compared, thereby to select an appropriate compare mode, then compares with the data that read by the interface unit 203 based on the selected compare mode. Furthermore, when the compare result matches (e.g. for FAT32, the compare result matches four consecutive bytes 0, which indicates the corresponding clusters are available), an acknowledge single will be output to the accumulate unit 207. The accumulate unit 207 is connected to the compare unit 205, and performs accumulation and storage actions based on the acknowledge signal sent by the compare unit 205, thereby calculates available volume space size, allowing the microprocessor 24 to read directly, or via the control unit 201, such an accumulate result. The accumulate unit 207 is also controlled by the settings of the control unit 201, which can be cleared and reset to zero.

Next, refer to FIG. 3, wherein a flowchart of volume information analysis method according to the present invention is shown. To start, the microprocessor 24 outputs a setting signal to set the action status of initialization in the control unit 201, thereby to control the actions of the interface unit 203, the compare unit 205 as well as the accumulate unit 207 (as shown in S301 of FIG. 3), in which the said initialization operation further comprises the control unit 201, according to the setting signal, clears the accumulate result in the accumulate unit 207 to zero. Following this, the control unit 201 controls, according to the setting signal, the interface unit 203 to read data from the data buffering area 22 or storage media, based on the set addresses or interfaces (as shown in S303 of FIG. 3). The control unit 201 subsequently controls the compare unit 205 by the setting signal to select an appropriate compare mode, then compares the said data with the data read by the interface unit 203 according to the set compare mode; in case the compare result does match, an acknowledge signal will be output to the accumulate unit 207 (as shown in S305 of FIG. 3). The accumulate unit 207 then accumulates the available volume space of the storage media, according to the acknowledge signal from the compare unit 205 (as shown in S307 of FIG. 3). Finally, the microprocessor 24 directly, or via the control unit 201, reads the accumulate result from the accumulate unit 207, hence obtaining the available volume space of the storage media.

In summary, by means of the volume information analysis module and the method thereof of the present invention, it is hence possible to reduce work loadings of the microprocessor 24, increase efficiency of volume information analysis in the microprocessor 24, and furthermore enhance the access performance when applied to storage devices.

However, the fore-mentioned illustrations represent simply the descriptions and drawings for the preferred embodiments of the present invention; the features of the present invention are not in any aspects limited to such embodiments, nor should they be used to constrain the present invention. The scopes of the present invention should hence be based on the following claims; all embodiments conforming with the spirits and scopes of the present invention, as well as similar variations thereof, should be included in the of field the present invention. Any variations and modifications that those skilled in the art can conveniently consider in the field of the present invention should therefore be covered by the following claims of the present invention. 

1. A volume information analysis module, wherein comprising: an interface unit, used to read data to provide for compare; a compare unit, comparing the data and outputting an acknowledge signal; an accumulate unit, accumulating the compare result from the compare unit, according to the said acknowledge signal; and a control unit, controlling the interface unit, the compare unit and the accumulate unit, according to a setting signal.
 2. The volume information analysis module of claim 1, wherein the interface unit reads the data at a data buffering area or a storage media interface.
 3. The volume information analysis module of claim 2, wherein the control unit controls the interface unit according to the setting signal, and reads the data from the data buffering area or the storage media interface according to the set addresses or interfaces in the setting signal.
 4. The volume information analysis module of claim 1, wherein the compare unit comprises at least one compare mode; the control unit controls the selection of the compare modes.
 5. The volume information analysis module of claim 4, wherein the control unit, based on the file type of the data, selects corresponding compare mode.
 6. The volume information analysis module of claim 5, wherein the acknowledge signal is the output signal when the data matches the compare mode.
 7. The volume information analysis module of claim 1, wherein the control unit, according to the setting signal, controls the accumulate unit to response accumulate result or clear the accumulate result to zero.
 8. The volume information analysis module of claim 1, wherein the control unit receives the setting signal from a micro process unit.
 9. A volume information analysis method, comprising the following steps: using a setting signal to set a control unit; controlling an interface unit to read a data by the control unit according to the setting signal; controlling a compare unit to compare the data by the control unit according to the setting signal; accumulating the compare result for the data from the compare unit by an accumulate unit; and reading the accumulate result from the accumulate unit.
 10. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, wherein the setting signal is provided by a micro process unit, in order to set the control actions of the control unit.
 11. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, wherein the interface unit reads the data from the data buffering area or the storage media according to the addresses or interfaces set by the control unit.
 12. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, wherein the control unit controls the compare unit according to the file type of the data, to select a corresponding compare mode to compare with the data.
 13. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, wherein, as to the compare result for the data from the compare unit, if the data is available volume space, then an acknowledge signal will be output to the accumulate unit.
 14. The volume information analysis method of claim 13, wherein the accumulate unit, according to the acknowledge signal, accumulates and saves the compare result for the data from the compare unit.
 15. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, wherein the control unit, according to the setting signal, controls the accumulate unit to response accumulate result or clear the accumulate result to zero.
 16. The volume information analysis method of claim 9, further comprising a micro process unit reading the accumulate result of the accumulate unit via the control unit. 